ESPNET SportsZone: Jazz buzz: This one hurt the most

Jazz buzz: This one hurt the most

By Bruce Feldman
ESPNET SportsZone

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SALT LAKE CITY -- After 10 minutes of answering questions, Jazz center Greg Ostertag was sick and tired of hearing about how sick and tired Michael Jordan was.

Ostertag's 13 points, 15 boards and three blocks weren't enough to cheer him up after the game.

"Y'all get off that sick (stuff). That don't make a bit of difference. He's a great player. He's going to give it his best effort, no matter how sick he is," Ostertag said as he stormed out of the Utah locker room.

Bryon Russell, the man who primarily guards Jordan, questioned how sick the Bulls star was.

"I don't think he was sick," Russell asserted. "You guys (the media) think he was sick. He didn't look sick dropping 38 (points)."

But what probably made the Jazz really ill was blowing a 16-point lead, and the prospect of needing to win both games in Chicago to win the NBA title.

"Michael Jordan didn't cost us this game," Russell said. "We cost ourselves this game."

"It was a game we blew," Greg Foster said. "Just like the first one. They should be lucky to be getting out of here with a win like that, because we gave it up. That was our game."

Swingman Shandon Anderson said this defeat was tougher than Game 1, which Utah also blew in the game's final minute.

shot chart

Karl Malone was just 1 for 6 in the second half. Click here for complete shot charts of Game 5.

"Tonight, we had plenty of opportunities to win the game and we just let it slip away," he said. "One thing we do well is execute coming down the stretch. We didn't execute at all tonight. We turned the ball over, we didn't block out on free throws. That's not characteristic of our team."

Ostertag said it wasn't just how the Jazz lost, but where.

"This is your stomping ground and you've got to protect it," Ostertag said. "We didn't. We had a chance to take a big advantage and when you don't do that, it's a back breaker."

Utah had won 10 consecutive playoff games at the Delta Center.

Karl Malone called the defeat "heartbreaking."

"Sometimes, when you don't think things can get any worse, God has a way of testing you again."

Utah also was buzzing about:

Jordan's gutty performance. "He had an unbelievable game, a great game, and I wasn't aware of any (flu)," Malone said. "I give credit where credit is due. He played his butt off and did all the stuff to help them win."

Anderson, who often guards Jordan, said he did notice that Jordan was tired.

shot chart

Utah starter Jeff Hornacek suffered through a 2-for-11 game.

"We saw it in a couple of shots and we tried to go at him," he said. "We just tried to make him run a little bit more and tried to wear him down. It worked a little bit, but I guess it didn't work at all cause he still had the legs to make the three at the end."

Ostertag's 13-point, 15-rebound effort. A performance the second-year center himself couldn't explain.

"I don't know why I played well," he said. "If I had the answer to why I play in some games and not in others, I'd never have a bad game."

Malone said Ostertag was just flashing some of the potential he has.

"Yes, Greg obviously played great," he said. "I think at times, he doesn't know how good he can really be.

"When that young fellow decides -- I'm not taking a stab at him at all, because I love him like a brother, but I get on his case sometimes -- to put games back-to-back like that throughout his career, he's going to be a hell of a center in this league."

Malone's one-for-six shooting in the second half. "They did a good job of forcing him out on the floor," coach Jerry Sloan said. "We put him in the post and his shots were longer out there."

The 6-foot-9, 256-pound power forward says he wasn't aggressive enough offensively.

"It kinds of makes you feel real bad, makes me feel bad because I didn't do some things for the team," he said. "I didn't recognize some stuff. You've got to be ready for Chicago."